Icebreaker Reaches Stranded Ship

Published 7:00 pm, Saturday, January 12, 2002

A supply ship stranded in Antarctic pack ice for a month was close to being freed Sunday after an icebreaker smashed a path to it, rescuers said.

It took the icebreaker Aurora Australis 12 hours to cut through five miles of pack ice and reach the stranded Polar Bird, said Kim Pitt, director of expeditions at the Australian Antarctic Division.

The Polar Bird, carrying 59 people, has been trapped in ice since mid-December, when it was making its way to the Australian Antarctic outpost of Mawson Station.

Earlier this week, a helicopter shuttled 34 people from the Polar Bird to the Aurora Australis, leaving 21 crew and four others on the stranded ship.

It was hoped the Polar Bird could follow the Aurora Australis to safety along a passage cleared through the ice and return to Antarctic Division headquarters at Hobart, capital of the island state of Tasmania, Pitt said.

"It's by no means over yet, but we are cautiously optimistic," he said.